Sunday, May 15, 2016

RIP Darwyn Cooke

I was deeply saddened to hear that as of Saturday there would be no more Darwyn Cooke comics.
Cooke passed away due to cancer and left us all too soon. The style and aesthetic he brought to superhero comics especially was antithetical to what's been going on for the past 30 years and his characterizations were a much needed antidote to the poison I've felt superhero comics have been long suffering from. DC has floundered in it's direction for its comics for a long time even though Cooke had clearly showed the way with New Frontier, a critically acclaimed, fan adored masterwork
where the heroes smile and nobody gets raped.

With Cooke passing, I found myself thinking not just of NEW FRONTIER or PARKER, but of SELINA'S BIG SCORE. A pre-Parker-Parker heist story by Cooke but with Catwoman instead of Richard Stark's titular anti-hero.

This is a rip-roaring, super-fun heist story with the twists and turns one would expect from the genre.
If you haven't read this, track it down. Nobody seems to talk about it but it's probably one of his best books in my opinion.